3.11.2013

Oceans of Fun, Leprechaun Luck, and COMMENT TO WIN!

So I have been pretty MIA lately, but jeez louise you guys, there has been testing galore in our room. Last week was so super busy with testing and this week will be as well. Ew. FML people, FML. I hate having to test all day! It is beyond stressful for me and the kids.I didn't take NEARLY as many pictures as usual last week because it was booooooring in our room. And I didn't blog due to the borefest. Here is the most eventful thing that happened last week (which is pretty sad): We have a new {living} {breathing} class pet.
 
Let me explain how this happened. The fair came to town and my kids were all raving about how they were going to go after school. Well, many of them did and came in the next morning going on and on about their festivities. I usually love going to the fair, but being on crutches was not all that conducive to the fair environment. I could just picture it: crutching along, crutch stuck in mud, falling forward, no hope for survival, landing in crap, and standing up with hay stuck to my a**. No my lovelies, no fair for me this year. Anywho, back to the story. One friend came in a bit late and had something hidden in his hands. He says, "I have a surprise for you! I won it at the fair!" Here I am thinking it is a small stuffed animal or something. How naive I was. He pulls out this fish tank with a little goldfish swimming around and says it is for me. Me *thinky* that some parents did not feel like maintaining a fish. At least they sent in food with him. I did not realize how often I would have to clean his tank or how bad he would smell. Poor little guy stinks to high heavens. Can I give him a bath?! Ha. Probably not possible. But leave it to me, I plan on figuring out a way. I guess I would stink too if I swam around in my food and my own urine.

So we named him Nemo and the kids get a kick out of him. When the kids were at specials, I was just chilling with Nemo. I watched him swim round and round and started feeling terrible for him. He must be so bored in there. So I started googling "fish toys" and I saw everything from dog toys to adult toys {jeepers!} and did not see any toys for a fish. I have to imagine that they make toys for fish to play with, right?! One forum said that fish only have a 3 second attention span so they can't focus long enough to be bored, but I still felt terrible. I tried to put some tank rocks and a little tunnel thing for him to swim through but he was scared to death of them so I took them out. In summary, I did not find any toys and I also realized that he wasn't fed over the weekend because he was in my classroom. At least he was still alive and kicking flippin' when I got there this morning. Sigh. How on earth did I end up with one more thing to keep track of?! And a living thing too for Pete's sake! Here's hoping that he makes it through the year!
 
Here's a recap of what I have worn recently (since I can't seem to keep up with it daily as I had hoped):
 
Sorry that the last pic is barefoot, my shoes were in the other room and I didn't feel like crutching all the way to get them and back for a picture. I'll describe them for you: they were black. HA! Now let's move on to the fabulousness that was today. We are learning about ocean animals this week! Woot woot! Love me some aquatic life. We are using my BRAND spankin' new Ocean Animals unit and the kids are totally loving it. Isn't it the best when your kids get into the things that you make? This is my newest fave creation! Check it out below:
 
 
We started by creating a KWL chart! I modified things a bit to make it SmartBoard friendly. It's much easier for me to do things this way because I can set it all up just by sitting in my chair at the computer :) I do love making anchor charts that we can keep posted though, so I cannot wait to be back up on two feet. My favorite "K"now moment was when one of the kids said, "I know that eels can electrocute you by sending fireballs through your veins like they did to my uncle Jimmy". So sweet. Love those heartwarming family stories!
 
 
 The kids also filled out a student version of the KWL chart. Next we read an awesome octopus story, one of my favorites. It is extremely informational, yet very understandable for the kinders.
An Octopus Is Amazing (Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science, Stage 2)
 
Then I introduced my littles to our new octopus friend! This thing is awesome. I bought it for only $10 on Amazon and it is very detailed. It even has the suction cups under each of the 8 arms. 
 
 
Click the picture below to check it out on Amazon.
 
Of course we had to name this guy! We created a graph on the SmartBoard to choose which name we liked the best.
 
 
  I made the graph editable so that the kids could choose the options along the bottom.
 
This is when it got a little "fishy". As much as I loved all of the names the students picked, I had to sift through them a bit. I literally had to stop myself from snorting out loud when one of my tinys said they wanted to name him "Octopussy". Sigh. There was absolutely no way I could live with calling the toy Octopussy for the next 2 weeks. It would be so fun to have my principal in the room and one of my kids scream, "HAVE YOU MET OUR PET OCTOPUSSY?!" And you can only imagine what we would call him for short. Sooooo I convinced him to go with "Octy" instead. We also had "Pus Pus" and "Pusasaurus". Needless to say, those two were vetoed immediately. There was just no saving either of them. Next we had "Squirty". Still a bit iffy, but I let that one slide. In the end, here were the options we voted on: Squirty, Colorful, Octy, GG, and Jiggle. I was totally rooting for Jiggle! In conclusion, I'd like you to meet our new pet Octy. I, for one, am happy with the how things turned out.
 
 
 After meeting our new octopus friend, it was time for each of the littles to create an octopus of their own! The templates for these cuties can be found in my Ocean Animals unit. After cutting out and assembling all the pieces, it was time to add the suction cups. We used little fruit loops for them! I let the kids snack a bit during this part :)
 
 
 
  The kids did such an awesome job on these. We are going to hang them up outside the room for our ocean themed "Student Showcase" this week.
 
After our ocean fun, it was time to get down and dirty with some testing. No super cool pictures of that nonsense. After some testing, we had a bit of leprechaun fun! I was beyond excited to start using "The Naughty Leprechaun" story with my littles. Today we read the story and they were seriously into it. They could NOT believe that Liam and Leyland left them a gold coin from their treasure. And when they heard that it was magic, they went overboard. Holy Crow.
 
 
I changed things around just a little bit to make it classroom friendly. In order to have a visit from one of the leprechaun friends, our class must have less than 3 people on yellow or red. If there are more, we will not get to choose a leprechaun to visit. The students get to choose between Liam the friendly twin who leaves us treats, and Leyland the naughty twin who leaves us a mess. We used a graph on the SmartBoard to decide which leprechaun would visit us tonight.
 
 
And the kids decided that tonight we would have a visit from Liam! He is going to leave us some yummy treats in the morning and a new special friend! I will tell you all about that tomorrow.
 
 
 Get ready for tomorrow, because I will be posting some AMAZING pictures of the leprechaun traps my kiddos have made. They are so good. Can't wait to share them! You will also get to see what Liam has left for us. Woo hoo!
 
And as I promised, I will be giving away my new Ocean Unit to 2 lucky followers! All you have to do is:
*Follow My Blog
*Follow My TPT Store HERE
*Leave a Comment About Anything! {be sure it includes your email} 
I will choose my 2 winners on Thursday!
 
Hope everyone had a MAGNIFICENT Monday my sweets! And here's to a TERRIFIC Tuesday!
Love and Hugs!

32 comments:

  1. I want a SMART Board! :( I am so jealous. LOVE what you've got going on in your classroom! I hope I win, that unit would be perfect for next month. :) And Omgosh, kids say the most awkward things. We were thinking of rhyming words for "four" and one of my kiddos goes, "Ms. Jessica, does whore rhyme with four?" And I of course didn't really know what to say, so I said, "Yes it does but we don't really say that word," which just opened up a whole BOX of 4-year old questions. Yikes! :)

    Have a great week girly!

    ~Jessica
    Fun in PreK-1 is Having a Giveaway!

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    Replies
    1. I know, Smartboards are the BEST! I can't believe I've only had mine for a few weeks. How did I ever live without it?! Don't worry, it will come eventually I'm sure :)

      Aren't kids hilarious!? I think every teacher in America should have a collaborative blog or book that is dedicated to all the crazy crap our kids say. Don't even get me started on the day we discussed words that rhyme with "duck" hahaha

      Thanks for your sweet comment! Hope you have wonderful week!

      Delete
    2. Ha! I bet that was great! :) I wouldn't change it for the world though. Man I was so proud today when we were making our "Insects Can/Have/Are" chart and one my girls said, "Insects can use camouflage!" I hope it comes, I seriously need to get on the ball and start looking for jobs in the public school system. (If I ever had any extra time... and wasn't so distracted reading your fabulous blog... geeze...) :)

      Delete
  2. You must must must get the book Memoirs of a Goldfish- borrow it or buy it and read it to your class ASAP. You will love it and they will now that they have their own fish. ;-)
    Jivey
    ideas by jivey

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    Replies
    1. PS as cute as your unit is, I don't think my fourthies would think it was funny if I pulled it out on them so don't include me in the giveaway...I just had to tell you to get that book!! :)

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    2. Oh my goodness, one of my fellow kinder teachers has Memoirs of a Goldfish and it is hilarious!Love love love it! Thanks so much for the idea! Are you sure your fourthies wouldn't want to make an octopus craft with froot loops?! ha!!

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  3. Your Smart board graphs are ADORABLE! Thanks for the giveaway. (I'm a follower of both!)
    -Andrea
    simmonsa1@sfusd.edu
    cielobella@aol.com

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  4. Oh my word! You had me laughing and laughing with the potential names of your classroom Octopus! I'm glad you chose the name you did! :o) I'd love to win this unit it looks amazing and it will be perfect for our study of Oceans (in May). Thanks for the chance Khrys!

    œKaryn
    A is for Apple B is for Blog
    Kideducator@comcast.net

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  5. I loved this post! Your unit looks amazing and fun!! Thanks for the giveaway! I'm following!!!

    Jenna
    Jennaike@hawaii.edu

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  6. As usual you were cracking me right up girl. Your new unit looks awesome! I am teaching the ocean next month.

    I love your cute outfits. I need to go shopping to get some new clothes since all mine are too big. Thanks for the inspiration! :)

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  7. I follow you blog. Thanks for the opportunity.
    yvonneeyrg@gmail.com

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  8. I also follow your TPT store.
    yvonneeyrg@gmail.com

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  9. I love the activities that you have project on your smartboard. :)

    Thanks,
    yvonneeyrg@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  10. I of course follow your fabulous blog and TpT store! Thanks for sharing....no class pets in my room. I just haven't ever made the plunge to do that in 19 years! Thanks!

    kellybrown28021@gmail.com

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  11. I really enjoyed reading your post! Your new unit looks like a lot of fun and that octopus is neat!

    lraines78@gmail.com

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  12. Your class sounds like so much fun! I was amazed at what you could do on the smartboard. I don't know how to do the things you did!!! Maybe you can do posts on that sometime. Hoping to win! I love the ocean too! If I win, I won't be able to respond for a week. I'm having extensive foot/ankle surgery Thursday and will be off the computer for a week while I lay flat on my back (for that long) with my foot elevated! (doctor's orders - YUCK!)
    Susan in NC
    susanlulu@yahoo.com

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  13. Don't you just love technology! I could not survive without my SMART board. Your ocean unit is fantabulous! I am a follower(355) at your tpt store. Keeping my fingers crossed on this one!
    Michelle
    mjaquillard@oregoncs.org

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  14. OMG-Octopussy! I am dying over here! Haha! Looks like fabulous unit!!

    Hugs!
    Kimberly Ann
    Live, Laugh, I LOVE Kindergarten

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  15. Whoop! You've been BUSY! I L-O-V-E your new unit! Hope I win and I follow you like crazy, girl!

    xo
    Irene
    Learning With Mrs. Leeby

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  16. I would absolutely LOVE to be a fly on the wall in your classroom some day...you are hilarious, and I hope your children appreciate your humor (or is it saved for us?????)

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  17. I follow your blog and store! My kids will love the ocean animals!

    cheriemae@gmail.com

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  18. I love your blog! I have never done a graph like yours on my SMARTboard, I am still learning how to use it. I love the things I have figured out so far, but am seeing there is so much more potential. I will have to see if I am make some cute graphs like yours. I know my kids would love them.
    I am following your blog and TPT store. I would love to win your Ocean Unit!
    Kari :)
    karianne1120@gmail.com

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  19. Your new ocean unit looks fab. I just got an e-mail with the update on it and I might just have to grab it (if I don't win it of course)...SO cute! Love that story about the fish. Lol, we have fish, milipeads and worms for about a month in April. I agree, they totally stink. The kids love it, of course :)
    Elizabeth
    Kickin’ it in Kindergarten

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  20. Hilarious....I can totally hear my class saying the same thing. Whew some of the stuff they say and then when you try to hold the giggles in they just look at you like "what?".

    Mrs. Thigpen's Kindergarten

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  21. Your ocean unit looks awesome! I would love to win! Good luck with the fish. We used to have a betta and it smelled terrible, too.

    Danielle
    danielle.faerber@gmail.com
    Carolina Teacher

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  22. It is awesome post. Is gold fish real? I love that cute story

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  23. LOVE LOVE LOVE!!! The idea of weekly wore is great! Much easier to keep up on then daily! Ha! That fish story is a hoot!! I don't have a smartboard but something similar..cheaper :) and the bulb blew out! I have been without it all week and it just about killed me! I rely on it for SO much!
    xoxo
    Kim

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